The Haunted

The Haunted
published by Prestige Books
Copyright 1972

HOUSE
OF
LIES

Something was terribly wrong. Jennifer Stone's
brother, in Vietnam, hadn't heard from his wife
Marcy for six months, and Jennifer had to find out
why. But she had hardly arrived at the
Barnsted farm, where Marcy was staying, when
Uncle Horace Barnsted tried to drive her away.
Even Aunt Elna Barnsted, who welcomed Jennifer's
presence, hardly seemed trustworthy, and handsome
young Lyman Parks, friendly enough at first
suddenly turned hostile. As for Marcy, she had
changed shockingly - a mental breakdown had
turned the once - beautiful girl into a frightened
child, incapable of speaking her secret.
There were explanations, of course - Elna had
explanations for everything - but somehow they
just didn't ring true. Jennifer had never before
known such an atmosphere of falsehood and deceit,
of lives with secrets desperately concealed. And
slowly in dawned on her that the Barnsteds no
longer wanted her to leave the farm. In fact, if they
had their way, she would never leave.
Not alive, that is ...

Looks to me like Jennifer Stone is just trying to get Lyme disease. We can only hope that Lyman Parks, as well as being both young and handsome also has an ample supply of matches.

I think maybe Jennifer is just being a little too suspicious. I'm two generations removed from hill-folks and farmers and I'd like to know one person who has ever visited the family farm who DIDN'T feel that being asked to string beans wasn't just an attempt to run them off.

And their is ALWAYS a simpleton. Always. Marcy is just theirs. Doug is ours. Or, as my Grandmother has called him for all the years I can remember, Poor Dumb Doug.

A Shadow on the House

A Shadow on the House by Florence Stevenson
published by Signet Books
Copyright 1975

FAME, FORTUNE, ROMANCE -
OR TERROR IN A MANSION OF DOOM ...?

The concert at the magnificent Fowler mansion was to be
the beginning of a long and success-filled career for
lovely, young opera singer Leila MacKenzie. But when her
chaperone fell ill, Leila was forced to remain with her as
an unwilling guest of the Fowlers, mournfully watching
the opera company move on without her.

Yet almost before she knew it, Leila found herself caught
up in a new life - a life and love centered around
George Fowler, the handsome master of the mansion.
Even when she learned his dread family secret and the
tragic destiny of the other women in his life, Leila was not
afraid. It was not until the ancient curse began to work
that Leila understood the true meaning of fear and
the horror of the fate from which even George might not
be able to save her ...

Ah, once again we have another dumb girl with more time to kill than common sense.

I am willing to admit that we ALL have secrets. I, for one, would never want any of my business clients to know that I spend my spare time blogging about bad romance novels, comic books and View-Masters under the name Spectergirl. But it is always a good rule of thumb to NEVER pursue a romance with anyone who has a "family secret". It almost assuredly will have something to do with some sort of Wilbur Whately recessive gene, Hitler or cross-dressing (and not in a good Tim Currey kind of way).

Terror? A mansion of doom? Even the advertisers weren't going to pull out their A game for this sad little collection of clichés.

But what a great cover! The mansion is fantastic and the execution of the dress is wonderful.

Seed of Evil

Seed of Evil by Petrina Crawford
published by Magnum Books
Copyright 1967

The

Evil That Men Do

"The evil that men do lives after them ..."
Joanna Bruce had heard those words, of course,
but she had no idea how true they were -
or how that truth could change the course of her
life. She had no idea of the depths of evil
to which man could sink, nor of the dangerous
heritages one can leave behind him ...

But she was to learn. Hired abruptly as companion
to warped, bitter old Martin Crask, Joanna
was thrust into a new and alien environment.
The old Cornish mansion was a veritable lair of
evil ... and Joanna gradually became aware
of its nefarious secrets. But could she learn
the ultimate secret in time to escape with her
sanity ... and her life?

Wow, Martin Crask sounds fantastic! I think all books should contain at least one warped and bitter character. I hope someday to inspire the warped and bitter character within a novel written by one of my children, or if I don't perfect it right away, a novel written by my children's children. Either way, it will be kind of like having my own "evil" living after me. And with out all the effort of holding the world hostage like a James Bond villain.

Oh, and by the way Joanna, what's up with your sleeves?

The Towers of Fear

The Towers of Fear by Caroline Farr
Cover Art by Allen Kass
published by: Signet Books
Copyright 1972

THE TOWERS

OF FEAR

TERROR, LIKE A COLD
FOR, ENVELOPED THE HOUSE ...

To Storm Towers, the brooking mansion of the
wealthy and influential Hailsworth family, came
lovely black-haired Ali Cavanagh on a visit to her
former college friend, Joan, young daughter of
the house.

Almost at once Ali was drawn into the web of
mystery that encircled the Hailsworth family:
Joan, strangely remote, was locked in her private
nightmare world; Ursula, whose relationship with
Joan held sinister undertones; Monty, the
handsome playboy, who attracted Ali yet frightened
her by his strange behavior; Donald, whom Ali
longed to trust but didn't dare. And then there was
Greg, Ali's former colleague - what was the real
reason for his unexpected presence in the mansion?

All were captive to the fear that filled the vast halls
of the old house where an unknown intruder
prowled the hidden corridors. The silent menace
grew until one fearful night when Ali found herself
struggling against a faceless evil that threatened
her sanity-and her life-and Storm Towers
revealing its shocking secret ....

This whole Hailsworth family seems just a little too familiar. FLASH BACK 18 YEARS: Joan? Easily me. Strangely remote and also lock in a private nightmare world. Ursula? Totally my younger sister, our relationship has ALWAYS held sinister undertones. Monty? No doubt my older brother, if strange behavior can include playing role playing games. As for Donald and Greg? They could be any number of the people who paraded in and out of my childhood home. I can say with all confidence that I don't think I'd like this book.

Now this cover is an Allan Kass whom we have see here on "WRFH" before. In fact there is a blogger site here dedicated to to his work.

Allan Kass was born in New York City in 1917. He received his BFA in Painting from Syracuse University after which he received an apprenticeship in the fashion art department of a Manhattan newspaper.

He joined the Air Force during WW2 flying 44 combat missions over Burma and Thailand. He was awarded 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses and promoted to Captain.

After the end of the war he continued to fly for the Air Force, art becoming only a hobby. After not being called for duty for the Korean War, Allan Kass retired from the military and began again to work as an artist. This time for an auto catalogue located in Detroit.

In the last part of the 1960's, after years in advertising, Kass painted sample book cover illustrations and traveled to New York City to solicit freelance work from book publishers. Here began what Kass himself said was a more artistically satisfying career. (Though I personally am rather fond of his advertising work.)

With approximately 1000 book cover illustrations from 1969-1998 for publishers such as Signet and Fawcett covering Romance, Western, Young Adult, and Historical Fiction, Allan Kass retired. Eventually moving to Big Sky, Montana.

Allan Kass died September 2, 2005.

Below are just a few additional examples of his work.

The Spectral Mist

The Spectral Mist by Dan Ross writing under Clarissa Ross
published by Magnum Books
Copyright 1972

ASK NO QUESTIONS ...

The huge old house on the California
coast seemed to be constantly
shrouded in fog, which added to the
gloom that permeated the atmosphere
and affected the senses of the people
who lived there. The master of the
house was the famed poet, Ford Hunt -
who had not been seen by anyone
but his nephew and his manservant
since the death of his wife, five years
ago. The old man kept to his attic
apartment, communicating with
no one below ... but did he really live
there? What was he hiding from ...
if indeed he was still alive? Enid Blair
could not help asking herself that
and many other questions when she
came to Cliffcrest after a whirlwind
courtship and marriage. Now she was
Geoffrey's bride, and should have
been happy in the household of such
famous a man - but Geoffrey seemed
married to the service of her
mysterious uncle ... and to a secret
so shocking that it was to
threaten Enid's sanity ... and life!

Okay, so the way I see it, Enid Blair just married a guy without a job. Oh yeah, he can say that he is some sort of personal secretary to his uncle, who may or may not exist, but from experience I can tell you that is most certainly code for "family mooch". Ford Hunt maybe a famous poet, but lets me honest, even the most well paid poet would have a hard time supporting himself, his manservant, his family and the families of his siblings and still pay the mortgage on his fog shrouded home.

Yes this cover is pretty damaged but I had to jump on picking up a Women Running From Houses book with a photo cover. This is the first time I personally have ever seen that done. Add to this fact that it is a Dan Ross and that it also features a young Grayson Hall lookalike (or is it just the open mouth stare), how could anyone say no.

Jane, the Courageous

Jane, the Courageous by Katheryn Kimbrough

published by Popular Library
Copyright 1975

The Saga of the Phenwick Women
JANE,
THE COURAGEOUS

is one of the spellbinding novels in the greatest
series of gothic romances ever conceived.
You won't want to miss the others,
all exclusively in Popular Library editions.

When young, breathtakingly lovely Jane Munsk
was adopted into the Phenwick family, she was told
she should be grateful for the gift bestowed on her.
Now the motherless girl would bear the proud
Phenwick name, and be heiress to the Phenwick
wealth, power and position.

But from the moment the great doors of Phenwick
closed behind her, Jane realized how perilous her
new place in life would be. For in this home of
many secrets and dark violence, she was a puppet
in the hands of the tyrannical mistress of the manor
-and enslaved by a helpless passion for the hand-
some, haunted man who was her brother in name
only, and who led her down a twisting path of
danger to the ultimate betrayal of her love...

Castle Cloud

Castle Cloud ( originally titled The Laird and The Lady) by Joan Grant

published by Ace Books
Copyright 1949

"A sleek, well-groomed novel, moving fast
all the time ... well written and enter-
taining."

CASTLE CLOUD-
Mysterious, Shadowy, and Evil...

Traveling alone to France from her native
America, Marylda meets and falls in love with
Rowan Cairdrie, handsome young laird of an-
cient Castle Cloud. After their whirlwind court-
ship and marriage, Rowan takes his bride to his
ancestral home on the lonely Scottish highlands.

Isolated in the ghost-ridden castle with her
husband's enigmatic grandmother, MaryIda,
driven by forces she cannot explain, (my bet is boredom) finds herself
prying into an ancient family mystery shrouded
in a suffocating atmosphere of evil.

Suddenly aware of how little she really knows
about her husband, MaryIda discovers that she
holds the key to a Pandora's box brimming over
with hate, greed, and murder - as the ghosts of a
violent past clutch at her with icy fingers.

CASTLE CLOUD - a distinguished novel of
Gothic Romance and Suspense, now published
by ACE BOOKS for the first time in America.

The art for this cover is signed by Allan Kass. There is a fabulous group on Facebook dedicated to his work where you can view a vast number of his cover illustration. Click here to see their gallery of nearly 600 Kass covers.

the Beckoning

the Beckoning by Virginia Coffman

published by ACE Books
Copyright 1965

Hatred and Peril
were her nearest neighbors,
beckoning with false
smiles from the turbulent sea on
one side and the treacherous
bogs on the other...

Beautiful, widowed Anne Wicklow though she was fortunate to find employment in the ancient, isolated castle high on an Irish cliff.

Once inside the gloomy castle, Anne discovered that evil walks beside her in the drafty halls-for someone in that strange household was determined to destroy her charge lovely young Maurie, who stood between a murderer and a fortune.

By protecting the girl, Anne put herself in mortal danger. To save her own life she had to uncover a ghastly secret-even if it meant betraying the man she loved.

Assignment: Okay, there is no need to live in such a bad neighborhood. Please go out and do real estate research. School systems aren't the only thing to worry about.